Politico senior media writer Jack Shafer is usually a fairly sensible media critic, but not this week. He wrote a snarky article on Wednesday headlined "Donald Trump Is a 2-Year-Old. It’s Time for the Press to Treat Him Like One."
Shafer announced that Trump's angry Tuesday press conference demonstrated he's just like a big baby, or an irritable two-year-old:
We’ve seen angry candidates before—Richard Nixon was practiced in scowling and the ebullient Ronald Reagan knew how to fire an irate comment in a debate when he needed to—but this is the first time we’ve seen a candidate assume the psychological and reactive profile of a small child. Trump seethed like an irritable 2-year-old instead of exhibiting the kind of restraint and comity we usually associate with a finalist in the presidential sweepstakes. I’m a big baby, the Trump outburst announced to all, and I’ll just act out until my anger is appeased! (Italics in the original.)
...As the emotional equivalent of a toddler, Trump can’t articulate the rage he feels, and the interrogations at news conferences seem to make him only angrier. The press is not Trump’s keeper, but we can help him better handle confrontation.
Shafer offered several insincere suggestions, like don’t play his game and return his insults, and then the advice turns silly – feed him ice cream or “put him down for a nap.” And then there’s the notion reporters could offer him distractions like sexy babes: “The smart parent always keeps in reserve ways to distract his toddler. In Baby Donald’s case, the solution seems to be a few beautiful young women, preferably '10s,' just outside his field of vision. When he starts blustering, place the 10 in front of him and maybe give him a binky to suck on.”
Shafer referred to Trump as "Baby Donald" four times in a fairly brief article. It's a little odd for Shafer to so thoroughly ignore his own advice in the same piece: "we've reinforced his anti-social behaviors for an entire year by giving him extra attention every time he throws a nationally televised tantrum. Then, we compound the problem by indulging our natural reflex to lash back at his anger with equal anger, returning his name-calling with name-calling of our own..."
The article concluded:
One note of caution: parents who fail to pacify their unruly toddlers too often surrender by parking them in front of a television. This a terrible, terrible stopgap. It may provide some temporary peace, but in the long run it will only teach new anti-social lessons. There’s really only one thing worse that you could do than putting Baby Donald in front of a TV. And that’s putting him in front of a TV camera.
